Considering that my fic is quite gruesome/suspensful, I think I can help you with this.

So, action/suspense scenes can be pretty tricky to write, but instead of just having action after action after action, try making it slow. No too slow, mind you, but enough to keep them reading. It also may be a good idea to use some...dare I say it...fragments in your work. Those type of one-liners always help me if I don't want a long paragraph of actions. Something like:

He was gone. Gone.

It sounds a lot more haunting than repeating yourself. Sometimes it's better to just cut to the chase. Change the speeds of your writing. Draw out the words at first to set the mood and then BAM just say it right there.

Ok guys srry I'm just now getting back. I was actually thinking her mother could be a mystery factor. She would look like her father in that she gets his pale cold skin, and his eyes. She would also have dark hair. Oh, and I'm not sure whether or not to name her Angel or Rose, my consultants (phellow phan PHreak phriends) say she shlould be Rose. I have also decided that she is to be friends with Christine/Raoul's daughter Lottie, and have a teeny weeny crush on their son Joseph. (In honor of the ignorant Joseph Boquet) Christine spazzes out when she sees the resemblance in Rose/Angel to her father, thinking he died after the Opera House burnt down. OH, that reminds me, it was rebuilt, and she lives there now in an old 2-3 dancer ensemble warm up room. (AKA a room surrounded by mirrors) Back to Christine, she bans them from being friends, and yells at Rose/Angel, which only further bruises her already wounded self-esteem. Then she tries to be friends with Lottie again at the Opera house, and gets her butt chewed by Joseph for disgracing their family. She runs to her room where she hears who she assumes to be Joseph, and it snowballs from there. LOL, I think I'm gonna make her snap later, and I know I'm going to make her daddy train her and try to use her.

I like your idea very much. It sounds very interesting indeed. I like the name Rose over Angel. Angel sounds like a cliche and far too many Phantom writers use it in my opinion. Rose isn't exactly under-used, but it fits more, in my opinion.

Oh, most definitly! There was no reason for him to live anymore, if you're going with full-fledge E/C. The say he died of love, but they never said how.

I always thought that maybe he would hang himself with his own punjab lasso but I really like your sword ideas too. I'm sure Erik must have collected some kind of artifact like that from his journeys. Be creative as you want. Death and torture, morbidly enough, is really interesting to write about.

Exactly...I was thinking the same thing about the artifact collection. Since Erik was so fascinated with death he naturally would be fascinated by (and perhaps even become an expert in) hara kiri. If my memory serves, hara kiri also promises some reward in the afterlife if done properly in the Japanese culture? That would be interesting...
I will have to go back to my history books for that....my point was, naturally since he's the main character in my story, he does suvive. How he survives the attempt I am not sure but I was toying with the idea of his peircing his lung rather than his heart.
That led me to think maybe he even damaged his vocal chords.
But what would keep him from trying again...and succeeding? You see my quandry! It has to be believable but I need Erik alive because without him, no story!
Any more thoughts? Ideas?

Perhaps he could only think that he killed himself. Maybe, if you're going by Kay's version, he could have taken many shots of morphine before his "execution" but instead stabbed his arm of something instead and falls into unconsciousness.

Hmmm...the morphine angle is one I had not thought of. Thanks Viktoria! Oh and I'm wondering if he should be his own savior...the daroga coming to the rescue is kind of anticlimatic.
Maybe Erik could awaken, bleeding of course, thinks to himself "well the gods it seems have seen fit to spare me" or something or other.
This can get interesting....

Haha! Very interesting! In a morbid sort of way! But doesn't hara kiri involve slitting open one's gut and then being beheaded by an assistant? I did a brief search on it once, and that's what I came up with. Is that right? Or are you thinking of something else?